An excellent, all-in-one skillet meal that’s delicious and comforting on a chilly evening. Make sure you marinade the chicken for at least 4 hours, up to 24. Choose your preferred heat of Italian sausage, we tend to go with mild. Serves 2-4, depending on how starving you are. Leftovers are fabulous.

Add all ingredients except for lemon into a large ziploc bag. Cut the lemon into quarters, squeeze the juice into the bag, then put the rinds in with the rest of the marinade ingredients. Seal the bag, squish it all around to mix the ingredients, open it up and put the chicken breasts inside, seal it and squish it around again, then put it in the fridge to marinade.

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Take the chicken out of the refrigerator (but leave it in the bag of marinade) while you prep the rest of the meal. Wash and quarter the potatoes, and cut the sausages in half lengthwise. Dump the chicken, marinade and all, into a large cast iron skillet, then pick out the lemon rinds. Place the potatoes and sausages among and around the chicken, and stir a bit to coat with the marinade.

Place in the center rack of the oven and cook for 45 minutes, turning the chicken and sausages over halfway through. Remove from the oven when the time is up, and stir around a bit to allow the potatoes to help thicken the sauce. You could also use a spatula to cut the chicken and sausages into bite-sized chunks and mix the whole shebang all together.

Serve with your veg of choice, we usually go with asparagus or green beans.

My husband was in Santa Fe last week, and had a meal (or two) at our favorite restaurant, The Pink Adobe. He raved about their New Mexico Green Chile Stew (and took a photo of it, and sent it to me, and rubbed in the fact that he was dining deliciously while I was making do with plate full of sauteed snap peas and green beans – I eat weirdly when he’s out of town). So last weekend we procured the ingredients and set out to recreate the dish.

A few things to note: First, I HIGHLY recommend roasting your own (Hatch) green chiles. Don’t be intimidated if you’ve never done it – it’s incredibly easy and you will NEVER EVER buy canned or frozen green chiles again. The second thing to note – you could use canned peeled whole tomatoes, but it’s SUPER easy to peel your own fresh tomatoes, and I think it improves the flavor. And third, this stew is incredibly versatile – you can use pork, chicken, or beef. It would probably taste great with some roasted corn thrown in there, too, or some whole black beans (or both). But made just as I describe below, it was so damned good that my husband and I stood over the pot dipping torn pieces of flour tortilla into the stew and OH MY GOD-ing until we finally wrenched ourselves away to watch football.

How to roast green chiles: Preheat your oven’s broiler (mine has a low, medium and high setting – I used the medium setting). Make sure the oven rack is at the highest level (closest to the heating elements). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wash and dry the chiles, and line them up on the baking sheet. Place under the broiler, and keep an eye on them. Roast for 3-5 minutes, until the chiles are about 70% charred.

Green chiles roasting under the broiler

Use tongs to flip the chiles over, and roast the other side for another 3-5 minutes. This should ABSOLUTELY NOT take more than 10 minutes at the outside. You don’t want them burned, just nicely charred. Again using tongs, transfer the whole chiles to a (non-metal) bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the chiles to “steam” for 20 minutes. Then, remove the chiles from the bowl and peel the charred skin away with your fingers – it should come off very easily. Remove the stem, split the chiles in half, and remove the seeds (I used my fingers). That’s all there is to it!

Green chiles, roasted and peeled

How to peel fresh tomatoes: Get a pot of water boiling on the stove (enough to submerge the tomatoes a couple at a time). Fill a large bowl with water and ice (large enough to submerge the tomatoes). De-stem and wash whole tomatoes. Cut a small X through the skin on the bottom of each tomato (side opposite the stem). Drop tomatoes, a couple at a time, into the boiling water. Count to fifteen-Mississippi (time for fifteen seconds). Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the boiling water and transfer them immediately to the ice water. Submerge them for 10 seconds and remove immediately (otherwise they get waterlogged). Grab the corners of the cut skin on the bottom of the tomatoes and peel down – the skins should peel off easily. And that’s all there is to that! (Here’s a good video tutorial.)

In a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the pork on all sides. Add the onion and garlic to the pork and stir to combine. Incorporate the flour, stirring constantly for about two minutes. Add the potatoes, chiles, tomatoes, jalapeno, and chicken broth. Stir to combine, and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Stir in the sugar, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on a low simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1.5 hours, or until the pork is tender. Adjust seasoning as needed.

All the ingredients in the pot!

The finished stew, ready to eat!

If you can POSSIBLY STAND IT, make the stew a day ahead of time. Let it cool completely, then put it in the refrigerator overnight. Reheated the next day, the flavors have had time to really develop. Serve with flour tortillas. You’ll notice that the chiles, onions and tomatoes all but disappear into the almost gravy-like sauce of the stew. If you want larger vegetable pieces use a very large dice. We found that we absolutely loved it the way it was.

– Optional: 1-2 tbsp. any brand of fruit or citrus jam or marmalade (stirred until smooth), or a fruit jam made with hot peppers (like Crooked Acres Strawberry-Habanero Jam!).

With the tip of a sharp knife, cut several deep slits into all sides of the roast. Insert garlic slices into the slits, pushing them in at least several inches. Combine all spices in a small bowl, then rub all sides of the roast FIRMLY with the spice mixture, pressing into the pork to ensure the spices adhere.

Heat butter and oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Brown each side of the roast, turning every two to three minutes. Remove roast from skillet and place in a large crock pot. Brush with jam or marmalade, if using. Pour broth or stock over roast, cover, and cook on LOW for 10-11 hours.

Serve with sweet potatoes or white potatoes, rice, or egg noodles. To make gravy, remove juices from crock pot into a medium saucepan, heat until boiling, and thicken with 2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water.

Gravy:
– 2 cups chicken or pork broth, or 1 cup water or milk and 1 cup broth (boullion cubes can be used here to make the broth)
– 1/4 cup corn starch
– 1/4 cup milk or water
– Drippings, “crunchies” (the browned bits of coating that my family fights over) and pan juices from cooking the meat

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, rinse the pork chops or chicken breasts and pat dry. Sprinkle tenderizer, salt, pepper, and seasonings on meat. Poke with a fork to incorporate spices into the meat. Place each piece of meat into the flour and press down to adhere, turn and repeat on each side twice to thoroughly coat.

Place chops or breasts two at a time in the heated oil (to check to see if oil is hot enough, wet fingers under faucet and carefully drip one or two drops of water into the oil – if it hisses and spatters, the oil is hot enough). Cook without turning for five minutes on one side. Carefully turn over and cook for five minutes on the other side. The coating will now be firmly adhered so if additional browning and cooking is required, it is now safe to turn the meat over as needed (tongs are easiest, I find). Cook until thoroughly browned and juices (when a slit is cut into the thickest part of the meat) run clear.

Set meat aside and cover to keep warm.

To make the gravy – skim out all but four tablespoons of oil from the skillet. Leave all the browned bits. Carefully pour the broth or broth/water/milk combination into the pan. Whisk to combine juices and browned bits. Heat to boiling. Combine the corn starch and water or milk in a small bowl until smooth. Gradually pour corn starch mixture into broth mixture while whisking continuously. Add enough of the corn starch mixture to thicken the gravy as preferred (it may not require all of it).

Serve the chicken or pork and gravy with rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.